By David Pincus
October 3, 2005
[email protected]
Title: Clippers 2005 Prediction

There are some things you just don't do in life. You don't watch a Steven
Seagal movie, you don't buy pills with an 'X' in the name, and you don't bet
on the Clippers to have a winning season. They picked up Mobley and Cassell,
so will this year be any different for the Clippers?
They traded Marko Jaric for Sam Cassell to try to build veteran leadership
on a team that clearly has none. Besides him, the player with the most
experience in the league is Cuttino Mobley, who has played 6 years. On
paper, the starting lineup looks good for LA: Cassell, Mobley, Maggette,
Brand and Chris Kaman. All their scorers are one-on-one players though,
who'll stand forever on the perimeter trying to find a shot. Hopefully
Cassell can fix that, although Cassell isn't exactly a past-first-shoot-last
Point Guard.
Their bench with Wilcox and Shaun Livingston is shallow to say the least.
Cassell has more years on him than the entire Clippers bench. The Clippers
have always had a pretty decent roster, but lack of experience has always
been their weakness. The year they had Brand, Odom, Maggette, Richardson and
Andre Miller was the year we all thought they'd make the playoffs. Trading
for Cassell may honestly be the first time the Clippers have traded for an
all-star in his 10th or more seasons.
Since becoming the Clippers in 1978, LA has made the playoffs 3 times in 27
years. I know it's tough being the 2nd worst team in your own city, but
Donald Sterling needs to get up and run the team. An outsider would think
Elgin Baylor owns the team, as often as they see him. This season seems to
be no different. Thanks to a complete lack of atmosphere and enthusiasm by
their owner, and the fact that there's a more interesting NBA team in their
own city, the Clippers should be booked for another losing season. Like a
company in Tahiti, the Clippers aren't going anywhere.